Carpet, especially wall-to-wall carpet, is normally installed with an underlay, often in the form of a foam pad or cushion. Moisture, dirt, food particles, and other debris tend to filter through the carpet to the pad. These conditions provide a breeding ground for various bacteria and mold that may produce undesirable odors, cause degradation of the carpet and/or pad, and/or contribute to a poor indoor air quality environment for occupants of the premises.
A typical carpet pad consists of ground polyurethane foam particles of a specific size range that are rebonded back together to form a continuous foam pad of various densities and thickness. Typically, carpet pad ranges in density from four to eight pounds per cubic foot. Rebonded pad is made from recycled polyurethane foam, typically from scraps of foam reclaimed from padding used in furniture, bedding, and automobile seating. The scraps are often of different sizes and colors. The rebonded foam is produced by grinding or chopping the scraps, mixing the chopped scraps with a binder, curing the binder, and slicing the resulting block of rebonded foam particles into a desired pad thickness. The binder may typically form ten percent of the weight of the final rebonded pad. Various films or webs may be bonded to one or both sides of the pad for various purposes.